Tower Seekers
by Yatori Shu
Summary: Salves and turbines were usually popular in this time period. Join Natsu, Wendy, and Lucy on there adventure in this story. Rated T for slight profanity. Nalu fanfic
1. Chapter 1

It was kind of early in the city of Magnolia. At the time magic was really popular and a blessing to have. Slaves of many kinds walked in this time period. Turbines, vests, cloth and rich fabulous jewelry were a fashion statement amongst others who were fortunate enough to afford them. The buildings were somewhat mere tents or clothes sewn together or gigantic buildings with gold and silver adorning the walls. There was no electricity and no plumbing systems to be found. This story is about a boy with pink hair covered with a turbine and a slave with a dream to be free.

-^/\^-

He ran as fast as he could with his sandaled feet with his younger friend both struggling not to get caught. They were both carrying a basket full of tomatoes, lettuce and an assortment of tropical foods. "Come on Wendy we need to go faster or they'll catch up to us!"

"Right Natsu!" the girl said. They looked behind them, as the buildings blurred past, and saw guard with heavy looking spears or swords. The guards continued their pursuit as the pink haired boy and his small friend made great headway. That was when Natsu turned the corner. It happened so fast. A blond girl had been walking around the corner and Natsu was running full speed. The next thing you know there both on the floor their baskets cascaded to the side. Wendy stopped in time and helped her pinked haired friend up to his feet then ran over to the blond girl to help her up too.

Wendy walked over and inspected her, she looked around 16, 17 but she was pale, her hair was caked in mud and her skin was littered in cuts and bruises. The blue haired girl continued her inspection and brown eyes trailed down to the girls' feet which were held together by rusty shackles.

"Natsu. Look" Wendy said as she stepped back. Natsu walked forward and knelt down and inspected her. Then his coal colored eyes trailed down to her feet. He saw the shackles. He stared and stared not seeming to make the connection. "Natsu she's a slave. What do we do?"

"We help her get back up on her feet."

"But what about the guards?"

"There miles behind us we're fine." Natsu said as he bent down and started picking up the slave girls' basket and its contents. As he separated the portions and put them in baskets the slave girl started waking up.

"What?" Wendy noticed this as she bent down and took out a staff, it was a silver pole with chain intertwining around it with a red gem in the center with a white cloth looping around it. "Iyashimasu." She chanted. The staff glowed a beautiful green light. The slave girl watched in wonder then a wave of relief and her arms and legs didn't ache as much. "There that's all I can do for now."

The slave was speechless she lifted up her dress slightly and looked at her ankles and snuck her dainty fingers in between the rusty shackles and stared wide-eyed at Wendy.

"Thank you", she said in a soft voice. "Where is the basket that I was carrying?" Wendy pointed over her shoulder to Natsu who was finishing organizing the baskets. She started to stand up and walk over to the pink haired boy. "Thank you and sorry for the-"

"No need to thank me. Besides I was the one that ran into you. And you were just doing your job. So..." the slave bowed her head and picked up her basket and bowed again. "What's your name?" she asked softly. Natsu looked at her again and nodded, "Natsu Dragneel."

"Well I'm Lucy of the Heartfilia race."

Wendy looked at her said, "wasn't the Hearfilia's the ones that all got captured from their homelands and were bought by the rich and wealthy of this land."

"Yes, you are correct. The Hearfilia's were a prosperous race until the ruler of the country Jude fell ill and past away. The next thing we knew it was chaos and my friends and family were taken away from me and I was being sold to this lands lord." Natsu looked at her confused and walked up to her, "why would they be sold?"

"Because we were a rare people. Everywhere you looked there was blond hair brown eyes and pale skin, which is very hard to find. We have immense strength and speed. We're like monsters we don't belong here."

"You don't look like a monster you look like a person." Natsu said with a smile. Lucy smiled and started walking. "Oh the guards are coming this way; you have 5 minutes to get a head start." Lucy said as she continued to her destination.

"What?!" Natsu and Wendy yelled as they picked up there stuff and ran.

-^/\^-

As soon as the two friends got back home. They took out their stolen food and Natsu started prepping for their meal. "Let's see. What should I make? We didn't take any of the meat but I guess I could make vegetable curry with white rice and lettuce wraps." He snapped his fingers and nodded taking his cooking supplies and started.

"Hey Natsu when do you think we can go to the tower and take it over?" Natsu stopped what he was doing and looked at his young companion. "Soon. Wendy very soon." After a few minutes later, the meal he prepared was ready and he laid all the food he made out on the table.

"Wow! Natsu this looks so amazing!"

"It should taste just as amazing know dig in."

The first bite that Wendy took her face turned tomato red. "Kyaaaaa!" Natsu looked up and chuckled at the sight. "Natsu how much hot sauce did you put in?"

"A lot" the boy said with a grin. Later that evening Natsu and Wendy had eaten every last bit of the curry and has a few wrapped lettuce wraps left. They moved their separate ways to go sleep, Wendy taking the bed and Natsu the floor on the opposite side of the room. Natsu laid on his side his back facing Wendy and pondered what he should do about the tower in the city they were in. The tower was huge and gorgeous in comparison to the palace and the cathedral in the center of the city. No one had made it out alive.

The city that both he and Wendy were in had a tower too. They didn't take any of the treasure inside but Wendy did get a staff with the powers of Grandine in it. She's also a magic healer which makes her a double threat. Natsu wanted to take over this particular dungeon because of the soul it had in it. But he was kind of nervous at the same time. The next day the two companions woke up and both said, "Let's take on that tower!"

-^/\^-

"So how the hell do we get up this massive thing?"

"We use my wind magic!" Wendy's staff glowed a brilliant green and swirls of air flowed around them. "Sky Dragon Roar!" she yelled as the air shot them up to the tower entrance, all the way at the top. Natsu took out his sword and entered the tower, but before he could someone grabbed hold of his shoulder. He looked behind him and a man with dark purple hair with sideburns and a tattoo on his forehead was standing, along with two girls, one of which had lime green hair and dark blue eyes. Then there was a familiar blonde hair with the returned bruises and cuts from before. "Hey. My group and I are going in first." Natsu looked at him confused.

"Who the heck are you?" the man reared back in dismay and looked offended. "Who am I?"

"That's the question."

"I am the notorious Lord of this land, Salamander" the man said pompously. Natsu lowered his sword and nodded. "Alright then we'll just follow you guys in right after."

"But Natsu-"Wendy started to say but was interrupted by Natsu's swift hand. Salamander and his crew walked in first. Then this unbelievable force started pushing them all in, Natsu and Wendy as well. They all ended up in a cave like area.

Natsu blinked three times before standing up. "Well that didn't happen in the last tower."

"What the hell?" the Salamander said. The two slaves both stood up too, looking bewildered. Natsu and Wendy walked forward leaving the group behind. They walked a bit further till Natsu, who was in the lead, bumped into something. He felt around till he felt what he thought was a button. Natsu pressed on it slightly and a door opened. Wendy was the first to peer into it. "What's in the room Wendy?" Natsu asked he didn't bother looking afraid the door would close again.

Wendy grabbed hold of Natsu's hand and sprinted to the center of the room. Natsu looked around as soon as they stopped in the center of the room. It was a room filled was S-class level monsters called Gorgons. "Wendy don't look into their eyes, they'll turn you into stone."

"Ok"' she said simply and pulled out her staff while Natsu pulled out his sword. The sword was a black color and looked more like a cleaver. He looked at his surroundings again and closed his eyes and started cutting through the S-class monsters like they were nothing. First he slashed forward, the weight of his dark sword guiding his trajectory, he knew where the first gorgon was and kept on guessing from there listening to the hissing from the gorgons and slashing and swinging left and right. He listened to the sound of the gorgons either hitting the floor or screeching in his ear. The very last gorgon was off in the distance so he quickly opened his eyes and shut them and ran at the hideous monster barely missing his mark. Wendy stayed back and healed any cuts that Natsu got. "Natsu my ethernano is running low we need to keep moving."

"Right" he said finishing off the last gorgon. He ran over to the exit and tried to catch his breath. Wendy patted him on the back and said, "The next room there's a riddle."

"Well let's see." Natsu said walking into the next room with Wendy. In the room was a pool of lava. Just a pool of lava. The inscription was on the wall and was in ancient Fiorian. "Ok the inscription says in order to pass you must first dance to the wind and then like a zebra."

"What the heck does that mean?" Wendy asked. "I think it means that we need to hop across and then bounce off the walls to get to the exit."

"Oh" Wendy said as she backed up and sprinted to the edge of the pool and twirled in the air creating a wind spiral and landing on the wall feet first and she pushed her legs with all her might and bounced off the wall to the other one then to the next and the next till she was at the exit. "Well that wasn't too bad but now my legs hurt." Natsu chuckled and copied Wendy's movements, and landed where Wendy was standing. He looked to Wendy, nodded and walked off to the next room. But he stopped and put his hand in front of Wendy, "what is it?" Natsu hadn't said a word and pulled Wendy by the arm to a secluded pocket in the cave. It wasn't in the slightest as big as the walk way but it was big enough to fit both Wendy and Natsu inside. Natsu shoved Wendy into the corner to make sure she was safe and then he took one last look before going to the opposite side of the small cave.

"Well that was just too easy by following them and having them clear the rooms without breaking a sweat. Man what gullible kids." The Salamander said as he walked by. Natsu checked to see if he and his crew where all together. He looked at salamander, then at the green haired lady but he couldn't find the blonde. "What the-?" he started to say but he spotted the blonde. Standing right behind him, "Holy mother of-!" he exclaimed as he was dragged away along with Wendy. He looked at the girl and recognized her easily. It was Lucy.

"I found them they can help us know," Lucy said. She tossed them toward the Salamander. He looked at them and smiled even wider, "Good now take us to the next room!" Natsu complied and walked forward Wendy followed. The scenery changed from a cave to a long dark corridor with large marble statues on the sides. The room started to rumble and shake. Natsu and Wendy got in to a fighting stance. The marble figures started to move. Hauling their gigantic legs with each step they took. Lucy looked at the salamander and ran forward. The statues where about 3 stories tall and where clunky so it looked like they were waddling. Lucy jumped up in the air and brought her hands over her head. She swung them down smashing the marble to bits. Natsu and Wendy looked astonished at the amazing feet. She didn't have one scratch on her. So she ran forward again except this time sliding under a statues legs and tripping it with a powerful round house kick.

The statue came to a loud crash that echoed through the hall. She stepped up and looked at the last statue with brown fierce eyes, and walked forward swaying her arms a bit, drawing back her right arm and swinging it forward shattering the marble to bits. Lucy turned around and said in a monotone voice, "alright the issue has been resolved so let us continue."

Salamander followed and as did the green haired lady and Natsu and Wendy. They followed Lucy till they saw a door with a symbol of a fairy on it. Lucy walked up to it and pushed lightly. The door burst open releasing a humungous gust of wind outward toward them, almost knocking the party over. Salamander stepped up first walking into the room followed by the green haired lady, Lucy then Natsu and Wendy. The room was enormous filled with treasures and gold. "Wow Natsu this whole room could buy us a whole nation! Don't you think?" Natsu looked at Wendy and nodded, patting her head. Lucy looked at them and then at salamander. "Lucy my darling come here for me for a moment."

"Of course master," Lucy said walking cautiously over towards him. "Now Lucy I want you to take them out." Lucy nodded and looked over toward the two travelers. She looked at them with the same intense eyes as before in the hallway. Natsu flinched and Wendy stood behind Wendy.

'So I have to kill these two' Lucy cracked her knuckles and lunged toward them. Halfway reaching Natsu but changing position and kicking Natsu instead sending him flying into the very expensive looking wall. Natsu got up and took out his sword out and slashed at Lucy left and right. Each time she avoided the attacks. She found an opening between his slashes and punched him. Sending him flying again. Wendy pulled out her staff and healed Natsu," Natsu you have to get up I'll distract them." Wendy pulled back and raised her hands. "Sky magic! Sky dragon wing attack!" she howled at the top of her lungs. The attack headed straight for the salamander and Karin. "Wendy back me up!"

"On it!" she said as she sent another attack at Lucy, pushing her back toward the center of the room. "Damn we're never gonna get these kids out of here and get the treasure at this rate." Salamander said as he watched the fight. Lucy threw a kick at both Natsu and Wendy. Her foot connected with the small girls' torso and sent her crashing to the wall. "Wendy!" Natsu yelled and Lucy took it as an opportunity to send a punch at Natsu. He blocked it and did a round house kick and swinging his sword with one fluid motion. Lucy backed away and ran full speed not toward Natsu but toward Wendy. With Natsu thrown off guard he had no way of reaching Wendy in time. But thankfully the room started shacking throwing Lucy off balance and making her fall.

Columns of fire shoot through the roof and revealed a large red dragon with flickers of flames surrounding it. "That's the fire dragon king Igneel!" Natsu yelled as he got up and turned his attention back to Wendy. Lucy and the salamander where too distracted by the columns of fire to even notice that the fire dragon had vanished and was replaced with a fairy symbol on Natsu's sword. The columns of fire slowly disappeared and Lucy turned her attention back to Natsu and Wendy. But before she even took a step, the Salamander held out a hand and said "stop". Lucy looked his direction and nodded walking back toward him. Salamander looked at the young, blond girl standing in front of him and smacked her across the face. Her legs crumpled under her as she ungracefully fell to the floor," hey what the hell was that for?!" Natsu asked with concern for Lucy. The salamander looked at the pink haired boy with a distasteful look on his face and said, "I can do whatever the hell I want with her, after all she is my slave."

Natsu sent a disgusted scowl toward the man and walked up to Lucy, Wendy trailing behind him. He turned her over with a slight nudge, to make sure she was ok. A large red mark along with a dark purple started to appear on her cheek. Wend y shoved Natsu aside and chanted her healing spell over Lucy again. The Salamander looked at them and looked astonished because of the kindness that those two showed his slave. Then Natsu stood up and brought out his sword channeling the new found power he now felt inside him into his sword and charged at salamander, a trail of bright red flames following his path. The sword barley meeting the tattoo on the salamander's forehead and Natsu said to him," You shouldn't treat people like their some worthless trash that's expendable. We're living breathing humans just as you are. And don't think otherwise." At that point salamander was sweating buckets. Natsu withdrew his sword and turned his back to him his last words being," a rank is just and title and that's all it is. I doesn't define would you are as a person it's just a word."

-^/\^-

 **Oh dear lord! That took forever! Over three thousand words in this story. Now I won't be updating flaming and celestial swords after chapter 7 comes out cause that's on hiatus for a while but this new story I'll probably be updating every month (probably). There's also a series of oneshots that I'm working on as well as a new story to make up for Flaming and Celestial Swords. It may or may not come out in the next few weeks but whateves.**

 **Have an awesome day and enjoy**

 **~Casey**


	2. Chapter 2

After the outburst from Natsu, Wendy got up and said," Natsu you have the soul symbol on your sword." Natsu looked down to see if she was right. And she was, the black sword had an engraved mark of a fairy on it. He smiled and held out his hand, palm first to Wendy. She high-fived it and then the room started shacking and just like in the last tower a portal opened and Natsu and Wendy walked to it. Lucy too stepped up and looked at Karin and Salamander. "Come on Lucy." Natsu said holding out his hands. She gladly took it and didn't look back as the room fell into ruin as well as the tower.

-^/\^-

A while after the tower collapsed Lucy and Natsu talked for a bit. "I thank you for freeing me from that man's grasps I really am grateful." She said bowing to Natsu. Natsu's cheeks stained red and he stuttered, "th-that's alright you don't have to thank me."

"Yeah I do! I have to thank you." She snapped at him. There was total silence after that. Neither Natsu nor Lucy expected the outburst. The blond bowed her head again and said, "I'm sorry for raising my voice." Natsu chuckled and was brought up to a full out laugh. He clutched his stomach and his eyes started tearing up. Lucy looked at him confused. As the laughter went on she started to get annoyed. "What could possibly be funny?"

"You. The way you act. It doesn't seem fitting." At that point Lucy felt offended.

"Oh! And how so?" she stated with a stern foot. Natsu's fit of laughter screeched to a halt as he looked up and faced Lucy, trying to think of something to say. "Well I mean, you seem like the type of girl to have a bubbly and cheerful personality and I just thought that..." Lucy looked at him with a content smile.

"Well you aren't all wrong there. I was really cheerful when I was a small child. But my days of being that man's slave I guess I changed who I was as a person. Never thinking about the past how cheerful I was." Natsu looked at her and his smile grew. "I know what I'll do. I can travel back to my home country and venture around just to see it." Lucy looked down again at her shackled feet and moved them around a bit. Natsu noticed and drew his sword. He broke the chains in one swift motion. Lucy stared at him and hugged him. He smiled the biggest he ever smiled. And he heard a faint, "thank you"

-^/\^-

A few days had passed since the freedom of the blond slave and the achievement in the tower. The group of friends had decided to head to the city of Hargeon. It was a port town on the west coast of Fiore. It would take a few days to get there on foot. So on the walk there they decided to take the chance to get to know one another a bit better with a game of two truths and a lie.

"Ok Lucy's turn. And Natsu's the guesser" Wendy said. "Alright...um. I've been to the country Alverez, I've never been outside the country or my favorite color is blue." Natsu pondered over the options and finally said, "You've never been outside of the country is the lie because you said earlier that you went to the country of Victoria before for a festival. So ha!" He said triumphantly. Lucy nodded and said, "alright Natsu is the liar this time and Wendy's the guesser."

"Alright! I have 20 bottles of hot sauce in my bag, I learned how to sword fight from a girl or I went surfing with a danger beast." Natsu barely had time to finish before Wendy blurted out. "You had 21 bottles of hot sauce not 20!" Lucy jumped back in surprised and laughed. "Gosh I'm stupid." Natsu said. Wendy gave him a smirk.

Lucy giggled and kept walking. The blond had a new change of clothes since their tower escape. She now wore a white dress with one strap on her right shoulder the dress went up to her mid-thigh with a teal ribbon tied around her waist with a black and gold sash draped over her left shoulder which was tucked into the teal ribbon. It was the cheapest outfit in the market. Lucy paid with her own money because she didn't want Natsu and Wendy to thing like she owed them something. But they insisted and she protested. The game of cat and mouse went on for a while. Until Natsu finally just gave up and let Lucy do her own thing.

"So how's being free so far Luce?" Natsu asked. Lucy looked at him with doe brown eyes and said, "It's pretty good so far, epically with friends." Wendy smiled at the kind, sentimental words. Natsu blushed and said, "Where did you learn how to fight?"

"I was wondering the same thing." Wendy said looking at the two teens. Lucy put her right hand to her chin, in a thinking position and after a few minutes she looked at them with an answer," I didn't have a teacher I just picked up the skills and here I am." She said with a smile.

-^/\^-

Later that day they had run into a town, it was blocked off by a short wall. So they decided to look over it to take a look. The buildings where made out of what seemed to be handmade sandstone from the nearby mines. And there were over hands in the entrances of some buildings with mixed-matched cloths. It was empty the town didn't have people. It was a ghost town. "What the?" Natsu said in a whispery voice. Lucy looked toward the two and said," I've been here before on a business trip for Salamander. The town was abandoned because of the amount of S-class Monsters around here. So I came here to help move people into other villages and slay the monsters."

"What were the beasts like?" Wendy asked. Lucy looked at the bush and said. "There about the size of my hand but their pain in the ass. They spit acid and their really fast. Their fuzzy and look like cooton balls. They camouflage with their surroundings so it's a pain to find them too. "

Natsu nodded at the new information and took out his sword Lucy looked at him in confusion and her eyes widened when she realized what he was doing. "Wait you can't do that! Theirs a village really close by that lives in the forest and if you're looking the blast the creatures away with your sword it ain't gonna work." Natsu lowered his sword with a scowl. "Ok the only way to pass through this village we have to run, like sprint run through this and try to not get touched by them. No weapons no magic. Just run." Lucy said. Wendy nodded and jumped over the wall. Lucy followed as did Natsu. Considering that Wendy was young she was pretty fast, but Lucy and was faster than Natsu and Wendy by a bit. She whizzed past the sandstone building and noticed something from the corner of her eye. It was the S-class Monsters. They were hopping around in a herd and eventually gathered up into a clump. They were also keeping good pass with the Heartfilia and continued to do so. "Crap they don't seem to be losing stamina" Lucy said as she veered a corner. "Ok guys I think we need to go our separate ways to try and loss them."

"Where should we meet up?" Natsu asked frantically. Lucy quickly looked around and spotted a tall tower outside of the town and pointed to it, "There! We'll meet there!" Natsu and Wendy nodded and split up. Natsu veered to the right heading for down town and Wendy heading up for the hill in the city. Lucy sped up knowing that kicking up dust was a good thing now.

-^/\^-

Wendy looked behind her as the Monsters were picking up speed. Some managed to latch on her clothes even. "Why won't these things get off of me?!" she shrieked as she ran up the hill. She was getting pretty winded from running up a steep hill. Wendy panted and looked behind her and some a huge cloud of the monsters right behind her. She yelped and suddenly gained the energy to sprint up the hill. Then she ran into a tall rickety watch tower. So she started to gingerly scale it.

From there she had a pretty good view of the town and where Natsu and Lucy were. She looked to the west where Natsu was and to the south where Lucy was. Where Lucy was she spotted a huge cloud of dust picking up from behind her. "Woah" Wendy managed to say. Then the tower started swaying. Wendy flailed her arms as she tried not the fall off. And to make matters worse there was a pack of monsters waiting for her untimely fall to her doom. "SOMEONE HELP ME! PLEASE!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.

-^/\^-

Natsu ran as fast as he could through the ghost town. He tried juking them, punching them one by one, and even setting them on fire. "Dammit Lucy! You could have told us how to get rid of them!" he yelled to no one. Surprisingly his voice echoed even though the walls on the buildings weren't high enough. Then he heard a scream for help. "Lucy?! Wendy?!" he called out. No answer.

His roar caused the monsters to coward behind him. Then he thought of something brilliant. But a loud crunching noise came to ear. He looked around to see where the noise was coming from. All the monsters looked in that direction too, with big black eyes. He looked to the east to see that Wendy was on top of a hill on the opposite side of town and was balancing on a crumbling tower. 'Crap' he thought as he went out of his hiding spot and ran to save Wendy.

-^/\^-

As Natsu ran to the opposite side of the town Lucy frantically ran to try to get the meeting point. But she noticed Wendy was in trouble as well and decided to be selfless and ran to her rescue, of course with the monsters in tow.

By the time she made the run up the steep hill, Natsu was already there trying to hold the tower in place by throwing his body onto one of the broken pillars. Lucy decided to be the hero and pull him away from it. "Hey what are you doing we need to save Wendy!" Natsu protested. Lucy nodded and said, "I know but I need your help to get her down. This tower is going to collapse and we could catch her but we have to time it right."

Natsu looked at her confused. Lucy shook her head and knelt down to the monsters at her feet. And pet one of them on the head "Wow they seem really friendly actually."

"Really?" Natsu said kneeling down and petting the one Lucy was petting. "Your right but how is this going to help save Wendy?" the pink haired boy asked.

"Like this," Lucy said as she whispered to the animal in her hands. Then she set it down and the monster trotted off to its mob and they all started to move, scatter and spew acid. It seemed like they were trying to create a cushion for Wendy so she could fall on it. "It's a safety net so if we miss Wendy will have something to fall back onto." Lucy said as she looked up and yelled in Wendy, "Wendy! I need you to jump that tower's gonna fall under you if you don't!"

A blue head popped over from the ledge and nodded. Lucy stepped back and said, "Wendy! Jump now." As she said it the tower gave out and Wendy had just enough time to jump down and for Lucy to catch her in her arms.

It was unbelievable to see. Lucy used her strength to launch herself into the air to catch Wendy and was airborne for a while until she came crashing to the ground. Natsu stared in shock and he ran towards them exclaiming, "Wendy, Lucy! Are you two ok?" Both girls nodded, to his relief. Wendy stood up and hugged Natsu repeating, "thank you for coming to my rescue." Lucy was still on the ground looking at the scene smiling. "Hey Luce are you sure you're ok?" Natsu asked concerned.

Lucy stood up and dusted some dirt from her dress and nodded but then winched when something painful felt like it was being driven into her leg. She fell back down and Wendy and Natsu's celebration was at a sudden halt. "Lucy, are you ok?" Natsu said trying to sit Lucy up. Wendy bent down over her leg and inspected it.

"Natsu I think when she launched herself to catch me she twisted her ankle and didn't realize until she stood up." Natsu looked at Lucy. She didn't look like she was in excruciating pain, but just to be safe Natsu carefully picked her up and had her ride piggyback style. She didn't protest but she said a silent 'thank you' at which Natsu blushed and stuttered "A-all right let's get to Hargeon!" Natsu yelled out. Wendy smiled and walked alongside her friends.

 **Hi everyone! It's been a while. I had originally planned to make this 3,500 words or more but because I wanted this to be uploaded by Christmas morning, but that didn't happen. So it ended up only being 2,300 words. Oh well :P. Um...the next chapter is coming up on February 14. Valentine's Day! (hopefully** **). Till then my lovelies bye!**

 **~Casey**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hi everyone happy Valentine's Day! 3 Hopefully by the time I upload this it'll be Valentine's Day, but whateves. Please enjoy and leave a review. Thanks!**

Natsu, Lucy and Wendy didn't realize how hard it was to get to Hargeon on foot. First because Lucy was out of commission, and Natsu and Wendy didn't really know a lot about the danger beasts in the Northern region they had a hard time fighting them off. Second, Natsu was carrying Lucy on his back which made it even harder to fight monsters. Now they were on the outskirts of Hargeon. "Natsu you know you could have set Lucy down when you were fighting. Right?" Wendy said looking at a very tired Natsu with concerned eyes.

"I know I just didn't want to set her down and have her be in danger. I'd rather her be on my back so I know she's safe." Natsu said nonchalantly stopping momentarily to readjust an ecstatic Lucy on his back.

"Wow didn't know you cared for me that much." Lucy said with a sly smile. Natsu blushed and looked away, taking one of his hands that was holding Lucy on his back and scratched the back of his head. He felt Lucy squirmed a little; she was trying to readjust, squeezing her legs together to stay up. Natsu's face started to turn a light shade of pink.

He maneuvered his hands to return to supporting her legs. Lucy's legs were soft considering she was a slave for so long. He felt bad for her, it must have been the first time in forever that she got to be out and about and do what she wanted. It must have been hard to be a slave, accommodating to someone's every whim, doing unnecessary things and odd jobs, and being treated like a dog. He certainly would want that kind of life, he would take any change he got to break free if that were the case he thought as someone interrupted them.

"What are you thinking about Natsu?"

He jumped a bit and turned his head slightly to see Lucy. "Just about...life I guess."

"You were thinking about my enslavement huh?"

"WHAT!? That's ridiculo-. How did you know?"

"I like to call it intuition." Lucy said with a wink. "And plus you get worry lines on your forehead when you're thinking about something serious."

"Wait! I do? Wendy how come you never told me?!" Natsu exclaimed turning to Wendy. The blunette giggled and said," I actually never noticed because you're never normally serious or think that hard about much. So this is a first for me."

"I feel insulted." He simply said making Lucy and Wendy laugh. "So Lucy how was being a slave? I'm sorry for prying I'm just curious." Wendy said after her fit of giggles.

"Oh! Um...well" She started off saying. "I've been past from person to person they always end up getting hurt or worst because of me. Because of my race, Salamander unlike the others was the nicest out of all of them; I still didn't like him though. I had actual meals and a bed. And when he got mad he let it out all on me not Karin, sometimes he would punish me if he was really mad." Lucy finished, she noticed Natsu wasn't moving from his spot on the trail, neither was Wendy. "Sorry if I'm being a downer, but I've never really confined in anyone so..." Lucy said tugging at her blond locks.

"Natsu?" Lucy asked after he hadn't said a word for the past minuet. So she bridged her back and slipped her feet from his grasp, standing on one foot her injured leg tucked under her. Natsu turned around and he looked pissed. "He did what to you?" he venom spewing out of every word. Lucy backed up but realized she had only one foot to use. "Kya!" she yelped as she feel backwards falling to the ground. "Natsu calm down it isn't anything important!" she exclaimed hold up her hands. "Of course it is you idiot! People shouldn't be treated like that no matter how bad they are, no matter their physical appearance or race!" He yelled in the blondes face.

Wendy watched as Natsu scolded Lucy. Her face look so misconstrued and confused, someone so strong looking so terrified then Wendy realized. "Natsu stop your scaring her." Wendy said throwing her body around Natsu, tearing him away from the blonde. Natsu stared at Lucy.

She was curled up, knees up against her chest hands on her head making it look like she was trying to protect her head. The light from her chocolate colored eyes had fled and was rimmed with tears and a terrified look. Then he felt bad, like really bad. "I'm sorry for yelling at you Lucy. I was being inconsiderate."

"No. I'm sorry you were right I was being an idiot. _I'm_ sorry." Wiping away her tears she stood up, Natsu held out his hand and helped her stand. "Its fine I lost my temper. I just didn't like the way you were talking like you didn't care about hurting yourself." Lucy stood there and looked down realizing that, that was what she sounded like. "Again I'm sorry for worrying you."

"It's fine. Now let's get to Hargeon!" Natsu said pick up Lucy princess style this time and rounding down the road leading to their destination. Wendy followed was a smile plastered to her face.

-^/\^-

"Wow it's so big. Don't you think Natsu?" Wendy asked looking bewildered at the sight of the port city. The buildings had a sort of warm and cozy vibe and they looked like they had some character. Unlike the town Natsu and Wendy stayed in, people dressed Victorian style and it looked interesting. "Hey there's a market place!" Natsu exclaimed. Lucy clung on tightly to him as he ran for the food stands. He blushed slightly but continued forward. When they got there, Lucy realized that the place was really lively and colorful. She smiled and talked to Natsu and Wendy as they ventured through the market, even though people were looking at the odd bunch. After a while of walking through town, Natsu noticed Lucy sleeping in his arms it was cute. "Hey Natsu aren't you tired of carrying Lucy like that?" Wendy asked. Natsu shock his head to deny still looking at Lucy's peaceful face. "No she's actually pretty light."

"And she can hear you too." Lucy said unexpectedly with a smirk on his face. Natsu and Wendy jumped. Then Lucy fell out of his arms. "Ouch." She said before getting up and dusting off her dress. "Sorry." He said quickly helping her up. "It's alright it was my kind of my fault too."

"Kind of?! You scared us half to death." Natsu yelled. Lucy shrugged and turned around. "Well its getting dark, I think we should head for an inn." She said. Wendy trotted off in front saying that she spotted an inn when they first entered Hargeon. Natsu carried Lucy and on his back again till they got to a doctor in the morning.

When they got to the inn it turned out to be a bed and breakfast inn which was good for everyone. Lucy walked in and asked how much a night would cost and were a doctor or physician could be found. She paid for a two bedroom room and got her information. The inn was sweet and cozy the walls were a light shade of pink which stood out against the oak wood interior.

Lucy walked up the stairs to the room Wendy in tow. Natsu was a few feet behind them having being bored and wanted food. He noticed that the pink walls of the inn complemented Lucy's honey blond hair. When they got to the room Wendy immediately chose a room for later tonight and Lucy wandered into the living space sitting on a cushion, hands over her head in a relaxed position. "You take the bed in the other room I'll be fine here." She said with her eyes closed. Natsu shook his head and retorted, "no your leg hurts doesn't it? You take the bed."

"Are we really going to argue over this?"

"Yes if we have to." Lucy opened one eyes and glared at Natsu. Natsu glared right back. This went on for a while until Wendy walked into the awkward atmosphere. "Hey Lucy there's a spring in the back do you wanna sit in there and relax? It might ease the pain a bit." Lucy sat up and nodded. Standing up with the aid of a table near her she walked slowly to Wendy, who supported her back leg and walked out the door. Natsu was left alone with his thoughts. One of them being hungry so he ordered room service. Only a moment after he ordered, the food was brought to him. "Two boxes of pizza. That's good." He said sitting down devouring half of the first pizza and his mind wondering what could the girls be doing that can be taking so long. So he went to check up on them.

He walked down stairs and snuck into the girls locker room and snuck into a nearby bush hopeful he wasn't making any sound. He peeked at what the girls were doing. Lucy and Wendy were just getting in and he got a pretty good view. He looked at Wendy then to Lucy. He had to hold his excitement as he felt a nosebleed coming on. He blushed and looked for a way out of the mess he had gotten into.

On the girls side of things Lucy and Wendy were sitting on opposite sides of the spring relaxed and calm. The spring was just a hole in the ground surrounded by wooden walls to separate them from male and female, and a line of over grown bushed handing over the edges. "This was an awesome idea Wendy. I really needed this." Lucy said with a sigh. Wendy nodded and sunk further into the steaming water. Lucy had never experienced anything so pleasurable before this. She had only seen other people enjoy and wondered to herself what it felt like. And now she knew.

She let out another sigh till she heard a rustling in the bushes her head swung around looking for the thing making the noise. She was about till she saw a patch of familiar pink. She stood up and walked gingerly to the bush and kicked it. To her surprise Natsu came out of the bush with a bruise on the left side of his face and a bloody nose. "Lucy what the hell!?" he exclaimed as he held his hand up to the bruise. Lucy and Wendy jumped at the sight and ran for cover. They covered themselves and looked at Natsu with a murderous glare. Natsu slowly back up holding out his hands, "wait wait it isn't what it looks like!" he spoke frantically. Lucy and Wendy ignored him as the night was filled with screams and yelps of a pink haired boy

-^/\^-

Once the whole ordeal was settled they went back to their room. All three of them looking at each other with embarrassment. Lucy looked around and played with the black sash over her shoulder. 'Why would he do that sure there were towels covering us but still' she thought to herself. She sighed and decided the drop it and go to bed. She stood up and limped to the bedroom plopping down face first and almost immediately falling asleep. But she felt a burning pain in the back of her head as she slept, like someone was watching her.

-^/\^-

Wendy and Natsu were left to themselves as Lucy left for her room. "You know you could share a bed with Lucy if you want to." Wendy said bluntly. Natsu chocked on his own spit and coughed dramatically as he finally said, "what are you crazy Wendy! I just met the girl and you want me to sleep with her?!"

"I was only suggesting it and I wasn't thinking!" Wendy whimpered at her attempt to appease Natsu. She bowed her head in shame and stood up. "Say Wendy?" She stopped and looked up at Natsu.

"Yeah?"

"What do you like about Lucy?" Natsu said bangs covering his eyes. Wendy had to think for a moment and she finally came up with an answer, "she's an extremely strong and reliable friend who I find as more of a sister figure. I like her and I approve." Wendy said simply not waiting for a response from the pink haired boy wearing the black turbine. She walked into her room and smiled and heard a delayed, "HEY WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!?" she giggled to herself as she fell asleep.

-^/\^-

Natsu shook his head and laid down on the couch. His fast was reddening fast from the thought of Lucy. She was pretty, no gorgeous, with her rounded heart shaped face and her pale pink skin, her eyes dark as coffee and her honey blonde hair behind her like a sheet of gold. He smiled to himself and fell asleep, well tried to.

In the middle of the night Natsu was woken up to something warm pressed against his back and something squishy. He opened his eyes slightly and realized he was on a bed, and then he turned around and saw Lucy with a peaceful smile on her face. Then it disappeared and her eyes opened, "hey is it morning?" Lucy asked drowsily. Natsu chuckled and replied with a shake of his head and a, "No not yet just go back to sleep." She did as she was told and snuggled closer to his back curling up and falling asleep again. It wasn't long till he fell asleep too, and he enjoyed it.

But not long enough. It felt like a few minutes had gone by and he was woken up with the smell of food. To him it smelt like pancakes, bacon, sausage, assorted fruits and eggs. He bolted up and ran for the living area. Lucy and Wendy were walking around in the kitchen making food. "Oh hi Natsu, Lucy can apparently cook and I wanted her to teach me! Isn't that great?" Wendy asked leaping over to Natsu her light brown eyes tracking him as she moves across the room.

"Yeah that's great but didn't you set the house on fire the last time you cooked?" Wendy's mood did a three sixty, "hey that was your fault you left me to cook dinner. So it was your fault."

"Nope you said that you wanted to cook so I let you!"

"And then you walked away and left me to do it without any instructions!"

As the two continued with their squabble Lucy had finished making breakfast and then there was a knock on the door and Lucy went to go answer it. Natsu and Wendy hadn't stopped their pointless banter to hear. She opened the door to find a man about 19 years old with spikey black hair and dark eyes, who also didn't have a shirt on. Lucy looked at him realized something and said, "Hey I know you from somewhere right?" The man looked confused then his features led up and he smiled, "yeah your Lucy right? Yeah we met before down at the harbor with my brother."

"Yeah your brother Lyon was doing a job right? Grey." He's smile grew even bigger. "Well I heard you were in town and that you got yourself hurt and my brother's friend Chelia is a healer and would like to help so came by to deliver the message."

"Well I think I'll take you up on that offer." Lucy said. Then she notice Grey's eyes trail past her shoulder to the people standing behind her. "Who are they?"

"Oh that's Natsu and Wendy. Their travelling buddies." Grey looked at Lucy with confusion then let out an exasperated sigh. "Well I think I can take you to Chelia now and then-''

"Who the hell are you?" a voice said from behind Lucy. Both she and Grey stepped back as Natsu looked at the two intensely. Lucy nudged Grey slightly and Grey said, "Hi I'm Grey Fullbuster and I'm here to accompany Lucy to a Doctor." Natsu looked at Grey, then at Lucy.

"Luce is he your boyfriend?" Lucy's face gradually turned a cute shade of pink as she frantically tried to deny it. Natsu smirked and then said, "Well how do you two know each other?" Lucy looked at Grey, Grey looked at Lucy and in sync they said, "We met at the harbor while we were on a job."

Natsu rubbed the top of his covered head and said, "Well Wendy and I were going to accompany you but it seems you two have some catching up to do so..."

"Oh no it's not a problem you can tag along, right Grey?" Luce said as she tilted her head slightly to look at Grey. Said boy felt his face redden at the cuteness of Lucy. 'Doe she even realize how cute she looks right now?!' he thought in his head. "Well let's go. See ya later Natsu." Lucy said with Grey in tow. Natsu scowled at the door as it shut and he threw his hands up in the air in frustration. Wendy pecked up from behind and asked, "Who was that? And where did Lucy go?"

"She went to go see a doctor with an old friend of hers." Wendy looked at Natsu and noticed the small look of sadness in his eyes. Then she smirked, "Aww is Natsu jealous of the man that took Lucy away?" She teased. Natsu's green eyes widened as his face turned red. He whirled around and exclaimed, "No I'm not jealous of that bastard. He can do whatever to he wants to Lucy, I don't care." Wendy waited a few seconds for him to realize what he said then he was gone with the door open.

 **Hey look at that I uploaded at the right time (that's a first). The next chapter will be up by March 2. Anyway there was a bit of Gralu in there but don't worry this will be Nalu! 3 Happy Valentine's Day XOXOXO3**

 **~Casey**

 **P.S**.: **Plz review :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hello to you all. I am so proud of myself because I have been able to write chapters like a mad dog. Seriously. I have written chapters 3 & 4 before chapter 3 was released. I am so happy anyway enough of my random chitchat and on with the story!**

Grey didn't expect it to be Lucy who got injured, seeing as she was untouchable but what could he do. Lucy walked alongside him with him slightly supporting her injured leg as he headed to his guild. He had to admit it was nice seeing her again. And later he was gonna have to snoop a little to find out who her two travelling buddies were and why she wasn't with salamander. She even got new clothes which bewildered him. The only good thing she had on the last time he saw her was the ribbon she had to tie up her long hair. The clothes she wore now, was a major step up. Then he remembered that she had longer hair the last time he saw her. Now it was cut to the middle of her back and he wondered why she would cut off that much beautiful hair. But a flying object interrupted his thoughts. Grey almost landed face first into the cobblestone road; he looked to his side seeing Lucy and a whole bunch of bystanders look at him with concern. "O my Mavis, are you ok Grey?"

Grey nodded and asked her, "are you ok?" she nodded and helped him up. He snaked his hands around her waist to support her leg. "Thanks for doing this I really appreciate it."

"It's no big deal, Chelia does it all the time."

"How's your brother?"

"Lyon's good. His ego has grown drastically though but he's learned to be a bit more humble about it."

"O really? What about Sherry?"

"She met some guy from a different guild and married him, leaving Chelia in the care of Lamia Scale."

"That's awful, I feel bad for her."

"Don't be, Chelia wanted to move out so it works but she gets lonely sometimes. And she doesn't have many friends her age."

"Oh yeah how old is Chelia again like 15 right?"

"Yeah why?" Lucy smiled and said, "Well Wendy's actually 13 so I thought they could meet each other and become friends."

"That's an interesting thought maybe that could happen. Now I'm kind of wishing you brought her along."

"Well it's too late now, because we're at Lamia Scale." Grey hadn't realized he was at the front door with Chelia and Lyon standing at the front doors. "Hey it's Lucy!" Chelia exclaimed excitedly as she sprinted toward the Heartfilia at full force. Lucy welcomed her with open arms and embraced her. "Oh my Mavis it's been too long." She said as she ruffled the younger girls shocking pink hair. "Hey where's salamander and Karin?"

"Oh I'm with different travelling buddies this time." Chelia frowned and said, "Were you sold again?"

"No just some stragglers I met on a job." Chelia nodded in understanding and turned to face Lyon who stuck out a hand for her to shake. She took it and immediately they started arm wrestling. Lucy smiled and squeezed Lyon's hand hard and took the time to test his strength. Lyon looked like he was struggling to keep up with Lucy. Lucy finally decided to give him mercy and defeated him with one swift movement. "Not bad Lucy. You've gotten stronger. Maybe you should go up against Jura next time."

"Jura?! No way he would demolish me."

Lyon smiled and said, "So what brings you here?"

"Oh Grey brought me here to see Chelia. Because I was passing through the abandoned town and broke my ankle." Lyon nodded and Chelia latched on to Lucy once more and guided her into the Guild hall with Grey in tow. Chelia motioned for Lucy to sit down on one of the chairs and she started her work. She took out a stick which had vines wrapped around it and had a symbol of Lamia Scale engraved into it. The pink haired girl chanted, "Helbrede" over and over and the stick began to glow. Lucy's ankle started to feel a lot better and she felt relaxed. While Chelia was busy healing her, Lucy took to chance to look around to guild hall to see what had changing since she was later here. And it wasn't much to her surprise. "So Lucy, where are you going? Now that you're freed of your shackles." Chelia said. Lucy looked at her with shock and her eyes darkened Grey looked at Chelia then back to Lucy, "when did you notice?"

"When I hugged you, I remember when I would accidentally step on the chains because they were so cold. And I didn't feel them this time." Lucy looked down and sighed, "What happened to salamander?" Lucy paused to think of what to say and finally spoke. "He was being greedy and boastful. So one of the people I'm travelling with put him in his place."

"Let me guess he was trying to defeat a tower and died trying." Chelia said. "Karin's died too. She helped me escape." Lucy said with a hint of bitterness. Chelia stopped and said, "Well what's done is done and he deserved what was coming to him considering what he did to you." She said light heartedly. Grey looked at Lucy and rubbed her back to try and comfort her, his fingertips lightly brushing up against the ends of her hair. "Thanks guys really appreciate it." Lucy said.

Chelia and Grey both nodded then a crash was heard from outside the guild hall. Grey, Lucy and Lyon went to check it out. To Grey and Lucy's dismay they saw a boy with pink hair followed by a tween with blue hair. Lucy's facial expressions darkened and she marched outside. The only thing heard from inside was Lucy's muffled yelling and chastising.

-^/\^-

"I have no idea what to do with you guys." Lucy said with her fingers massaging her temples. Natsu looked down at the floor and Wendy looked like she was about to cry. "Ok so what were you guys doing outside of the guild hall?" Natsu and Wendy looked at each other and then looked down at the ground. Then Wendy finally said, "Natsu was only worried about you Lucy. So he followed you to make sure you were ok."

"I was not worried about her; I just wanted to go out to eat. And the place we happened to be going was past Lamia Scale." Natsu said bluntly. Lucy stared at him and he turned red under her gaze. Chelia noticed this and said, "O are you too going out together?" Lucy, Natsu and Wendy stared at her then to break the awkward silence Natsu and Lucy started laughing. "Hahaha th-that's priceless!" Natsu exclaimed.

"He's right why would I want to go out with him?" Lucy said clutching her stomach as she laughed. "So are these the travelers that freed you?" Lyon asked. Lucy nodded and Natsu's head perked up with interest. "Wait you told them about us Luce?"

"Yeah of course I did." And at that Natsu's face was aflame. Wendy giggled at the two's antics. Then Grey nudged Lucy and whispered to her, "I think you broke him." Lucy nodded and walked up to Natsu and Wendy dragging Grey and Lyon with her. "Natsu, Wendy I'd like you to meet Grey and Lyon. Gray, Lyon my travelling companions Natsu and Wendy."

"Nice to meet ya Natsu." Grey said holding out a hand from him to shack. Natsu took it with caution and shook, Wendy bowed her head letting her long blue hair trail off her back to her shoulders. Lucy smiled at the scene and Chelia walked over and said, "So what are you going to do know?"

"Probably travel with these two and see where we end up." Lucy said. Wendy walked over on the other side of Lucy to watch as the three boys started a fight with each other. "Hey Lucy maybe we could conquer another tower and get you a magic tool."

"What's a magic tool?" Lucy asked. Wendy held up the staff that was strapped to her back. "This is a magic tool and you know the sword that Natsu was using that's a magic tool too." Lucy nodded and said, "Does that staff hold any sentimental value?" Wendy's eyes widened and she shook her head furiously.

"Yes actually, this staff was a gift from an old friend of mine." Wendy said holding the staff in her hands tracing the pattern that the previous owner had made into its side. "He kept me alive when my mother died." Lucy nodded and looked at Chelia, she looked like she was about to fill a lake. "Oh my Mavis! That's true love right there!" Chelia exclaimed bursting into tears. Lucy stared in shock while Wendy was frozen in embarrassment. Her face reddened and she put away her staff, "it wasn't love he was doing it out of kindness." The younger girl protested. Lucy ruffled Wendy's hair and said in a sing songy voice, "It does sound like he cared about you a lot!" Wendy turned her head and exclaimed, "Not you too Lucy!" Chelia and Lucy both laughed and Wendy kept protesting. Natsu, Grey and Lyon looked in their direction and shrugged and went back to fighting.

-^/\^-

Later that night Grey walked with the small party back to their hotel. Lucy next to him and Natsu looking at them suspiciously. When they finally got back to the hotel Grey informed them of a festival happening in a few days and told them they should stay for a while. Natsu and Lucy looked ecstatic at the idea. Wendy answered with a sure and explained to Grey that she wanted to see if Chelia wanted to do something tomorrow with her and Lucy. Grey nodded and said, "I'll pass on the word." He saluted at the trio and left.

"So what do we do know?" Natsu said as he plopped down on the couch. "I mean we have enough money to stay here for a while so we don't really have to do a job." Wendy said sitting on a stool near the kitchen. "Maybe we should go on a _small_ job. One that's short so time will fly by till the festival." Lucy said sitting down next the Natsu. Wendy nodded and said, "Yeah and maybe Grey and Chelia would want to join us!"

"Then it's settled, we're going on a job tomorrow!" Natsu said pumping his fist in the air. Lucy stood and grabbed his shoulders to make him sit on the couch. "But where are we gonna find a job like that." Wendy asked. The trio thought for a second. Then it was like their thoughts were in sync. "We find a job at Lamia Scale!" they all exclaimed at once.

At the guild Grey and Chelia were both at the job request board at the back of the guild, Lucy raced over to them. She got within mere inches of Gray and Chelia latched on first taking Lucy down. Gray looked behind him and said, "Thanks Chelia." Said girl gave a thumps up and Lucy pouted. "Aww you guys aren't any fun." Pushing Chelia off and turning towards Gray. "So are you looking for a job?" Grey nodded and said, "Yeah looking for a small one to do just be for the festival." Lucy started at him flabbergasted. Gray looked at her and jumped a little. "Lucy?"

"We were looking for a small job too!" Lucy blurted out. "We as in Wendy and flame-brain?" Grey said. Lucy nodded and said, "Yeah and we were wondering whether or not you and Chelia would want to join us?"

Grey looked at her and nodded, "Sure but I'm picking the job."

"Alright, Mister high and mighty." Lucy taunted as she strode back to Natsu. His messy head of hair was covered by his black turban once again and then she noticed something. Two small red earrings in his cartilage and one gold earring in his right ear. It was a peculiar arrangement. She sat down next to him and started placing with the ends of her hair occasionally brushing over the shell of her ear. Natsu noticed this action and said, "Hey you want to ditch? We could go window shopping." Lucy was caught off guard and accidentally tangled her blond hair in her fingers. She yelped and Natsu scooted closer to inspect. "How the hell did you manage to do that?" he asked with slight amusement. Lucy simply shrugged and motioned toward his sword, "mind cutting it for me?" Natsu's eyes widened and replied, "But why? I mean it might take some time to untangle it but no need to cut it."

"Yeah but I'm not one for being patient and I won't bother me, it's just hair."

Natsu put his hand on his sword and thought through it. Then he slumped his shoulders and sighed in defeat. "Fine I'll cut your hair." Lucy nodded and sat perfectly still waiting for the blade to meet the ends of her hair.

Natsu slowly drew his sword and placed to tip under the locks of hair and with a flick of his wrist the strands of hair fell to the floor. Lucy stood up and ruffled his hair. "Thanks really appreciate it." Lucy said as she wandered off the job request board where Grey was. But when she got there Grey looked at her with a weird look. "What did you have him do to your hair?" he said lifting up the shorter piece of hair. Lucy only shrugged and said, "I had him cut it that's all."

"Yeah but no It's uneven and it looked weird." Lucy shot him a look that said 'what-the-hell-did-you-just-say?' kind of face. "Fine then, fix it for me!" grey rubbed to back of his head and said, "OK" grabbing her hand and leading her upstairs to and empty storage room.

The storage room had a few worn down chairs tables and a mirror. "just sit down on one of the chairs, but be careful." Lucy nodded and carefully sat in a chair next to the mirror. Grey ran to the infirmary and grabbed a pair of scissors. He ran back to the storage room and back behind Lucy as he lifted the first strand of hair and lifted the scissor blades the cut it off. "Are you sure about this?"

Lucy nodded at him and said, "Of course I trust you enough, cause were friends!" He blushed and cut of the sheets of gold.

-^/\^-

Wendy currently has been sitting in the corner of the guild talking with Chelia. She thought Chelia was a nice girl over all but she was really peppy when it came to talking about love. Any kind of love like family or relationship love and every kind of love under the sun. The first time she saw her, the shocking pink hair kind of threw her off and Chelia said it was a family thing. The two chatted on and on about the adventures they had been on with their respective companions and also about the towers they had been through. Then she said, "Since Lucy's with us now we want to get to another tower to get her a Magic item." Chelia nodded and said, "Let me guess Grey convinced you to stay for the festival and that's the only reason you're here." Wendy nodded. She looked over at Natsu and Lucy who were having a conversation while eating strawberries. "What tower is the closest?" Wendy asked. Chelia paused to think for a moment and finally came up with an answer. "Um...there's one not too far from here. In the town of Rosemary I think. They say the tower is covered in beautiful red carnations and roses. It would be the perfect place for a date if you ask me."

"Sure but going on a date in a dangerous tower? I don't think I would want that." Wendy said waving her hand in front of her face. Chelia giggled and looked toward Natsu and Lucy. "I know it's a little hard to tell now but I have a feeling that those two are going to be inseparable. And maybe those two would want a date in that tower." Wendy looked at them two and smiled. "Maybe your right."

-^/\^-

Later that night the trio went back to their hotel room with a piece of paper in Lucy's hands. Grey had given them the paper for them to look over and they would meet up at the guild to go on the job. The job was simply to find a kitten that had been lost in the woods that was causing troubles in the outskirts of town. But the troubling part of it was that no body except the owner knew what the cat looked like. So Lucy and Grey were going to go meet the owner to get a description.

When Natsu opened the door Lucy immediately ran into the living room and face planted into the couch and didn't move. Wendy went straight to her room and presumably fell asleep. Natsu sat next to Lucy and watched her. "Hey I heard Wendy talking." The Heartfilia said as she tucked her head under Natsu's arm. "About what?" The pinkette asked with a raised brow.

"You guys taking me to a tower to get me a magic item." Natsu paused for a moment and said, "Do you have anything special that you care with you?" Lucy nodded and slowly stood up and ran to their room and came back with a pouch and in that pouch was a key chain with 12 golden keys attached to it. "These were my moms and there extremely rare. She told me that they hold a special power that needs to be unlocked." Natsu looked at Lucy. Even though they had only now each other for a few weeks it seemed to him like he's now here for his whole life. Seen every look on her face and every reaction she has to certain situations. Natsu leaned a bit more closer. Her dark brown eyes shined with a light he had never seen before, the way she talked about her mother came with a totally new reaction and look. To put it simply it was fascinating.

Lucy took off the key with two wave lines on the bow and there weren't any cuts or grooves in the key. He noticed that all the keys were similar to that and each had a unique symbol on them. One symbol looked like an arrow and another looked like a ram and a bull. "Say Lucy. What do those symbols stand for?"

"Oh those are zodiac signs. The key with the grooves that look like a goat's horns is the key to Capricorns gate. And the one with the two swirly lines is Aquarius'." Lucy said as she took off each key and set them on the table. Natsu watched with interest as she explained which key was which in extreme detail. "I had no idea there was so much history to the zodiac." Natsu said as Lucy started stringing on the keys to the key chain. "I know but there are others keys too."

"What kind?"

"The silver keys and unlike the Gold keys silver keys can be multiplied." Lucy said tugging on the Aquarius key. "Oh I'm sorry for wasting your time I know it isn't all that interesting to some people." Lucy interjected. Natsu held up his hands like a kid who had been caught trying to steal a cookie from the cookie jar. "NO you didn't waste my time it was quite interesting from my perspective." Lucy's eyes widened and then filled with a warm he bet no one could ever muster. "Well thanks for listening to my longwinded expose on zodiac keys."

"Your welcome, anytime m'lady." Natsu said with a smug grin on his face. Lucy giggled and sauntered off to her room. And Natsu stayed behind and sat back down on the couch and mumbled to himself, "Did I just call her m'lady. What was I thinking?" He said cringing at the thought of the past few minutes, eventually falling asleep on the couch.

-^/\^-

"So did we lose them or what?" Wendy said the Chelia and Lucy. The two girls shrugged and tried to catch their breath. Currently the group of five were on a job and the original job was to find a lost cat, but apparently it was a lot harder then it sounded. And now the girls were being chased by the guys because the boys were so convinced that the girls could lure out any cat because Lucy tamed a street cat. So now the girls are running for their lives trying to stay away from the boys. "Wait! Why are you guys running? I'm the one who tamed the cat!" Lucy exclaimed. Wendy and Chelia both lunged at Lucy and both whispered, "Keep it down they might hear you!" And she was right Gray and Natsu were right on their tails! Then Lucy yelled, "Every man for himself!" Wendy and Chelia blanched and Lucy stormed on ahead leaving the two girls in the dust. Natsu and Gray smirked and stormed past the two girls also. "Did they just ditch us?"

"Yeah I think they did." Wendy said after she caught her breath. They stood there for a few seconds then Chelia turned toward Wendy and said, "Wanna get some fruit smoothies?" Wendy nodded and they both wandered off back to the guild for some smoothies.

Meanwhile Lucy was getting chased down by two teenaged boys. "You guys are insane she said as she ducked into a corner running to a pile of crates. She sidestepped it and pushed the boxes over hoping that it would slow them down a bit. "Lucy come on it'll be easier and we'll get the job done faster!" she heard Natsu call. Lucy simply rolled her eyes and ahead of her she spotted a cat. And it was blue! She stopped and picked it up. "Hey you're the guy we're looking for aren't you?" she said holding her hand out for the cat to sniff. The blue feline reluctantly sniffed the blond's hand and put his head under her hand so she could pet him. His fur was soft considering that he was living on the streets for the past few days. "Aww you're such a cute kitten." Lucy cooed.

She eventually picked him up and bumped into Grey how was rubbing the back part of his head. Lucy looked at him with concern and asked, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah. It's just Natsu 'accidentally' pushed me into that pile of crates you pushed over and now I don't know where he went."

"That's discouraging." Lucy said cradled the cat closer to her chest. Grey looked at the blue feline and started petting it the cat continuously batting at Grey's hands. They walked down the street to find the others to collect the reward but to no avail. Lucy and Grey had walked around the entire town looking for the three missing people. By the time they had gotten back to the guild the cat was asleep in Lucy's arms and Grey was still petting him. "So what should we do with the cat?" Lucy paused for a second and said, "I have no clue bring him back to his owner?"

Grey rubbed the kitten's chin one more time before saying, "maybe you should keep him, he seems to like you."

"Maybe I will keep him." Lucy said tickling the kitten's tummy. Grey found it amazing that one of the strongest girls he knew was so gentle with an animal like a cat.

 **Alright I think that's enough. I know I know, I went off on a tangent but I wanted some Gralu in this. Don't get me wrong my OTP is still Nalu but I think Graylu needs a little bit of love. 3 The next Chapter won't be up until April 24. Please leave a like and a review and till next time my lovelies bye! 3**

 **~Casey**


	5. Chapter 5

"Stupid just, stupid." Natsu said as he sat in the Lamia Scale guild hall. He looked at Lucy then to the feline she was holding in her hands. "What's stupid?" Lucy asked scratching the cat's chin. Natsu looked down at his lap and didn't say anything. "What is it Natsu?!" She pressed. Natsu shook his head and finally blurted out, "how is it fair that he gets all the attention and I don't!" Lucy leaned back at the sudden outburst and then tilted her head in confusion. Then a smirk appeared on her face, "Oh jealousy, thy name is Natsu." she said coyly.

"Hey I'm not stupid I know where that came from!" He snapped. Lucy giggled and said, "I didn't say you were stupid. You said it yourself." Natsu put his hand to his face and shook it. "Don't be a smartass." He said to her. She smiled and took her hand away from the cat for a second to pet Natsu on the head instead. The instant he felt the warm of her hand he froze. "There are you happy now?" Lucy said looking at Natsu. His face was red and the tips of his ears were pink. His mouth drawn into a thin line and his eyebrows furrowed.

Lucy giggled and tended back to the kitten in her lap. A pair of light brown and blue eyes were watching them from across the guild hall. "Want to bet that Natsu makes the first move?" Chelia said. Wendy simply giggled and went back to eating the food that was set in front of her. "He might just break and admit it to himself." Wendy said. Nearby Grey jumped and slowly turned his head to the two teenagers and walked over to them, "Wait flamebrain liking someone?"

The two looked at each other and laughed with Grey looking confused beside them. "What?"

"Nothing just what's with the nickname?" Wendy said hiding her smile behind her hands. Grey scratched the back of his head and said, "well he has a weapon that can summon fire right and he is as dense as a rock so flamebrain." Wendy and Chelia both nodded their heads and looked over at the pinkette and the blonde.

"So what are you going to do after the festival?" Wendy asked. Grey looked at her lopsided and said, "I planned to go searching for my sister Ultear but now I think I want to do something else."

"That something else being?" Chelia said raising a brow. Grey looked at Lucy and said, "I think I'll search for something else." Chelia nudged Wendy and smirked. Love is in the air.

-^/\^-

"In love please when hell freezes over." Grey said as he sat down next to Lyon. "What's your deal?"

"Chelia spouting her love nonsense at me. Even dragging poor Wendy toward the dark side." Grey shuddered, Lyon shrugged as well and went back to talk to Lucy. "So you're planning on taking on the nearest tower is that right?" Lucy simply nodded and went back to looking down at the book she was reading. "You know that's the tower of Silver right?" She nodded and said, "I know that's why we're taking Grey." When he heard his name he swiveled his head to look at the blonde sitting in front of him. "I wanted to thank him for helping me a while back."

"So you're going to get him a Slayer vessel?" Lyon said as he stood up abruptly. She nodded seeming unfazed by Lyon's odd reaction and said, "Well I'm also going there for my own reasons too. I just thought that he would want a break from the guild to go on an adventure with us. Plus the more the merrier" Lucy said as she smiled. "Right so when are you planning on going?" Grey asked. "Well we were going to leave today but you said there was a festival so we decided to stay till it ended. Also we were gonna leave in the morning." Gray nodded and stood up. Lucy and Lyon looked at him and finally asked, "Where are you going?" Grey turned around and said, "To go pack up we're leaving tomorrow morning right?" Lucy nodded and Grey ran through the front doors of the guild.

"Where's stripper goin?" Natsu asked as he sat next to Lucy. "He's coming to the tower with us."

"What!?" Natsu exclaimed he stared at Lucy with widened eyes. "He's doing what now?!"

"I said he's coming with us to the tower. Do you have a problem?" Lucy said not paying him any mind as she picked up the blue cat sitting next to her. Natsu glared at him and slouched and finally said, "No I have no problem."

"Good" Lucy said. She shuffled closer to Natsu and handed the Blue kitten to Natsu and asked, "What should we name him?" Natsu started at the blue feline for the longest time and finally blurted out. "Chad G. Augustine Au'Leopold III!" Lucy sat there flabbergasted and shook her head. "No it has to be something that we'll all remember not just some random names that sound fancy." Natsu pouted that his name idea was shot down and Lucy patted him on the head for the effort and then Lucy said, "Happy. What about we name him Happy?" Natsu tilted his head and looked at her confused. "Why would you name a cat 'Happy'?"

"So when we think about Happy we'll think of happy thoughts." Lucy said and didn't even give Natsu a chance to protest. She dashed over to where Lyon and Grey were sitting and practically scared the shit out of them. Natsu chuckled when the two brothers jumped in surprise. He looked back down at the cat and sighed happily.

-^/\^-

The festival was tonight so when Natsu, Lucy and Wendy walked around town there were booths and food stalls being set up. Natsu looked at them excitedly while Lucy and Wendy started planning what they would see first. Happy walked in between Lucy and Natsu occasionally nudging their legs, urging them to pet him. After the twentieth time bending down to pet him Lucy picked him up in her arms so she and Natsu could pet him freely.

During their walk around the town everyone was busy, even Lamia Scale. Grey and Lyon were setting up ice sculptures that were scattered around the port town. Then Natsu noticed women were dressed in mere cloths with gold jewelry and beads to complete the look. It looked like the clothes he saw women wear in his old town. Then he snuck a look at Lucy. She would look nice in that type of thing. He thought he would ask Wendy to help him with that. Lucy noticed Natsu looking at her and decided to shrug it off. "Hey Lucy can I ask you something?" she nodded silently too captivated by the scenery surrounding her. "Have you ever been to something like this?" Lucy shook her head. "No I was never allowed to go. But my employers always encouraged me to wear something for the occasion." She pointed to one of the girls wearing little next to nothing, to show what she meant. Natsu nodded started thinking again only to be interrupted by Wendy, "You have that look on your face again." Natsu swiveled his head in her direction and said, "Wendy can you help me with something?" the bluenette looked at him curiously and eventually nodded. Natsu looked to his left to make sure Lucy wasn't listening and quickly told Wendy his plan. She nodded in approval of his plan and pushed Natsu over to Lucy and ran in the opposite direction. Lucy looked at the disappearing figure with a confused look and looked at Natsu with brows knitted. Natsu simply shrugged and tried to find something to keep her distracted while Wendy did what she had to.

"So Lucy what do you want to do?" Lucy simply shrugged and pet Happy as she continued to walk. Natsu had forgotten about the feline. "Well I think we should get something to eat, I think its afternoon already." Lucy looked at him then to the sun and said, "But it's only ten o'clock by the looks of it." Natsu blanched as he suggested a late breakfast. Lucy's stomach gave a low growl and her cheeks reddened ever so slightly. She turned to Natsu and accepted with a pout on her face. Natsu grinned and practically dragged Lucy to the nearest restaurant.

By the end of the day Natsu had basically dragged Lucy all over town but stayed clear of where Wendy was. Lucy started to notice this and asked, "Why are you dragging me all over town?"

Natsu flinched and turned toward the Heartfilia. "U-uh well ya see…-"

Luckily at that exact moment Wendy came rushing up tugging on both Natsu and Lucy's arms saying in a panicked manner, "Natsu, Lucy come quick!" Natsu secretly sighed in relief and eagerly followed Wendy. The bluenette stopped at the inn and raced to their room. Lucy followed suit careful not to drop Happy as she was carrying him the entire day. She opened the door and there stood a mannequin with an outfit on it. It consisted of a simple white cloth to cover her hips and chest with separate blue ribbons attached to them and a loin cloth to cover the rest. On a cart was a tray of assorted jewels and hair ornaments. Lucy stared in shock and asked, "is this all for me?" Natsu nodded and so did Wendy. She grabbed Natsu and Wendy, drawing them into a big group hug. She said a simple thank you and headed to her room to change, Wendy followed in pursuit. Natsu smiled and sat down on the couch as Happy joined him.

He could faintly hear the girls as they got Lucy ready. Then he thought of the dungeon and what would happen next. Would Lucy get a vessel and become a candidate or would Grey? Then he thought back to Mavis and her offer when he got his sword. "Will you become my King's candidate?" Was all she said. He wanted to mull over it a bit more but his thoughts were interrupted with Lucy stepping foot out of the room. Natsu's mouth dropped as he eyed her top to bottom. She looked absolutely beautiful, the clothes were absolutely gorgeous. Her hair was styled, one side her hair was cut so two front pieces were longer than the rest and one side was held up by a pink feather, revealing five unnoticed piercings and the other side was curled and laces with small silver chains. She also had another feather clip attached tucked underneath her hair. Then his eyes traveled to her face. He hadn't noticed until now that the eyelashes at the end were longer, it's that or else she was wearing makeup. Her brown eyes shined with positivity and light.

It was at that moment when reality hit him with a brick wall. He was staring too long and his face reddened almost matching the pink hair hiding beneath his turbine. "Is it weird?" Lucy asked as she check herself. Natsu shook his head no. "N-n-no it looks really, ugh really good on you." Lucy's face lightened up and she ran up to hug him. Natsu almost past out as her giggles reached his ears. "Thank you guys so much." They stayed like that for the longest time till Wendy interrupted and said, "Guys the festival started! We should head out." Lucy released Natsu and ran toward the door leaving Natsu in the middle of the room shell-shocked. She paused her fast pace and peered at him through the door frame. Natsu noticed her and said, "I'll be down in a bit I just need to get something. You and Wendy go on ahead." Lucy nodded and left him following Wendy who was standing next to Grey, Lyon, and Chelia. Chelia ran up to Lucy stared in awe of her outfit. "My, my Lucy I didn't know you had the guts to show that much skin. Especially in front of these two strippers." Lyon and Grey blanched but didn't deny it. Her face twisted into a disgusted look and Wendy quickly bailed from her position next to Lyon and ran to protect Lucy. The two brothers said, "hey what the hell was that for?!"

Chelia and Wendy simply laugh as Lucy's face turned into a smile. Lyon and Grey joined in on Wendy and Chelia's laughing when Natsu came barreling down the staircase. The party turned toward him, seeing the black box with gold trim he had in his hands. The pinkette stopped in front of Lucy and handed her the box his hand resting on the pummel of his sword. Lucy took it gingerly and opened it. As if her day couldn't get better, in the box were a refurbished set of chains and shackles. Grey looked over Lucy's shoulder to see what was inside. "Natsu where did you get these?" Natsu rubbed his head in embarrassment. "Well…"

He remembered how when he released Lucy from her chains he later removed them for her. Lucy said she would keep them but she had nothing on her to carry them in, so Natsu offered to carry them until they found something to hold them in. He ended up carrying them through the trip to Hargeon and decided to get them refurbished for Lucy as a surprise. "Now you can use them as vessels for when we go to the tower." Natsu said as Lucy stared at them. And for the second time that day she hugged Natsu and his face turned a darker shade of pink. Grey smiled as he's never seen Lucy this happy.

"Ok now that that's over, can we go to the festival already?" Wendy moaned. Lucy giggled and nodded. Wendy led the way with Chelia next to her and Lyon and Grey close behind them with Natsu and Lucy following in the back. The festival was amazing it seemed as though the city was illuminated with glitter. The booths had food, games and prizes. Grey and Natsu offered Lucy, Wendy and Chelia if they wanted anything and they immediately declined. Lucy navigated through the crowd of people to the center of town where there was a banquet and dancers. They all separated either wandering around more or eating. Natsu literally abandoned everything and made a beeline toward a banquet with Grey in close pursuit. Wendy, Chelia and Lyon went back to check out the games and Lucy was spectating as the two boys had an eating contest. Lucy sat there contently till she heard music start. It was a beautiful sound she had never heard before, it was exotic and it made her heart race. She found herself racing to cut through the sea of people to get to the stage where performers were dancing. Luckily the costumes they were wearing were similar to the outfit she was wearing so she hopped on stage and started dancing.

Twirling and kicking her legs to the beat of the drums. No one had any complains, instead they all cheered. Lucy was ecstatic, and wanted this moment to last forever. The world around her turned into bright flashes of color she felt like she was the only person up on stage and danced and danced. "Your beautiful, Lucy!" she heard from the crowd. She briefly saw Natsu cheering from the back of the crowd. Her feet moving faster than ever before

Natsu sat back down and Grey patted him on the back. "So what's your plan?"

"What do you mean?" Natsu asked. Natsu looked at him and Grey set his hand inside one of his pants pockets and drew out an object the pinkette was very familiar with. Grey showed him a knife. It was more like a dagger with a flat face that had an intricate design on it. When he touched it if felt extremely cold. "What is this?"

"It's the dagger Ur gave me. She was my mentor on sword play. But she passed away and gave this to me. Now I want to go to the tower and get a Slayer vessel."

"Why are you telling me this exactly?" Natsu said with confusion on his voice.

"So you and Lucy won't get any funny ideas." Natsu's eyes hardened and glanced toward Lucy who was still dancing. "Alright we won't get in your way." He held his hand out and Grey took it shaking it then going back to watching Lucy. They watched blissfully as she danced the night away

-^/\^-

The following morning Natsu and the gang were up at the crack of dawn and started to head toward the tower of Silver. Lucy observed her surroundings and thought it odd that the area was cooler than it was back at the port town. Even so there were still living animals and plants so she thought to leave it be 'cause there was no cause for concern. They traveled onward the tower getting closer to it. Lucy noticed the plant life start to freeze over, questioning what kind of tower it was. Eventually they were at the base. Or what they thought was the base of the tower; everything around the area was frozen over, the ground, surrounding water, the plants, even animals that weren't lucky enough to get away. Natsu and Grey had already started to look for the entrance when Wendy pointed to a small opening in the tower. "Hey Lucy think you could jump up their!" Lucy nodded. She knelt down placing her fingers on the ground, it was iced over. She looked like a lion ready to pounce on her prey. Lucy dug her bare feet in the ground, breaking the ice beneath her bare feet lowering her back and jumping into the air. She left behind a crater and a large gust of wind, little ice shards following her with unimaginable speed. Natsu and Grey swung around in time to see Lucy in the air. They stared in shock not knowing the Heartfilia was that powerful.

Lucy looked at the entrance barely able the look at it while looking straight ahead. She felt the wind blow at her face telling her she was falling. She braced herself as the ground got closer and closer. She landed near the original crater she created and said, "Wendy you were right the entrance to the tower is up there. So I'm gonna have to carry you guys up there in order for us to all go in." So she grabbed Grey and Natsu and jumped to the entranced. Lucy ignored their screams of fear as she quickly made her way to the entrance. Wendy followed with a sky dragon roar. She removed the hand that was keeping Natsu in place on her shoulder and tapped the entrance with the pad of her finger. Before they knew it the party was being sucked into the tower.

-^/\^-

Admittedly Grey had never been in one of these towers and it was kind of trippy. The only thing he remotely remembered before he entered the tower was Lucy hoisting him over her shoulder and jumping about forty feet off the ground and being sucked into the tower. Yep, his day started off great, know he was in the tower it was darker than he expected it to be. And more wet. He opened his eyes to see Lucy making her way over to his with Wendy in tow. She had a frantic look on her face. "Grey come on get up we need to get out immediately!"

"What we just got here!"

"NO! Not that I mean get out of the pool of nitroglycerin!"

"NITROGLYCERIN!" Lucy impulsively took Grey by the collar and flung him to Natsu who was already out of the pool. He watched as Lucy sprinted to them as fast as her legs could carry her, with Wendy on her back. As soon as she was on land again she forcefully stomped the ground and propelled herself toward Grey and Natsu. Grey could only watch from Lucy's arms as the pool of explosive chemicals erupted growing smaller and out of blast radius. He felt himself being set down on the hard ground as Wendy jumped off Lucy and collapsed beside Natsu who had Happy in his hands, how Natsu snuck him in he didn't want to know. Lucy keeled over coughing like crazy. Natsu pasted off Happy to Wendy and rubbed the blonde's back in an effort to make her stop coughing. It eventually worked and Grey spoke up. "Lucy, thank you for saving us. How did you know it was nitroglycerin?"

"The smell. One of my former employers used to transport it to mines and military officials as a means of making explosives. Granted it was hard to recognize the smell considering it was transported in its frozen state to avoid a mass explosion." Lucy said. Natsu looked at her and helped her to stand up. "Well that certainly just excessive. Just like the other traps in the tower of Igneel." Wendy said observingly. Lucy nodded and said, "Let's keep moving."

"Right." Everyone chorused as Lucy lead the way deeper into the tower.

As they started walking Grey had noticed that the walls changed their appearance. First it was like walking in a cave the place was dark and cold. The tunnel curved ever so slightly and that's when it started changing, the walls turned into bricks of sandstone perfectly lined against the wall and had weird looking symbols on the walls the ceiling started to rise too and it looked like torches were placed every so often. "What are these symbols?" Wendy asked. Lucy responded with "Ancient Fiorian." Natsu swiveled his head to look at Lucy. "You know how to read it?"

"Some of it." Grey observed as Lucy traced her slim fingers along the inscriptions, she must have picked it up when she was employed to the salamander. Her brown eyes scanning the symbols tensively and he sworn he could hear her mutter the words, 'skill' and 'test'. Man, he thought as he inspected the hall further, what the hell have I gotten myself into know, this is beyond what is thought I'd be doing on a Saturday morning.

 **A/N: Hello again!  
Just so you know I not dead! Great news right?! Sorry it took me so long. But exams slapped me in the face at the end of the year and it stung like a b*tch. And I couldn't upload or write for a week because my laptop was updating and then I feel behind in my virtual class. And I'll be changing my profile name to Shu_Kai. Ok now that that's out of the way I'll be uploading the next chapter on August 12.**


	6. I'm Sorry

Hello everyone Yatori Shu here or previously CaseyMCV2.

I have decided that I'm gonna stop writing for a while. I have recently been having anxiety problems and I have too little time to write and do the other things I need to do. That doesn't mean I'll delete the account or any of my stories it just means I need to take a step back and get my priorities straight. That's actually the reason for the later update on Chapter 6 of Tower Seekers; it was because I was too busy and had a long period of writers block. And now it's really close to the upload deadline and I'm still stumped.

If you want to know more I'm creating a Deviantart account under the same name and will be frequently uploading images of fanart and my OC's.

I really appreciate all the support I've gotten from my followers and it makes me really happy. But until next time guys, bye!

-Yatori Shu


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